The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus of the type forming a toner image on an image carrier, then transferring the toner image to an intermediate transfer body (primary transfer hereinafter), and then transferring the toner image to a paper or similar recording medium (secondary transfer hereinafter).
An image forming apparatus of the type described is conventional. I conducted a series of researches and experiments with such an image forming apparatus in order to further enhance the quality of the toner image finally transferred to a recording medium. The researches and experiments showed that at the time of the primary transfer of a toner image, the linear velocity of the surface of an image carrier and that of the surface of an intermediate transfer body sharply change and cause the image to be dislocated on the intermediate transfer body. This problem is particularly serious with a color image forming apparatus which sequentially form toner images of different colors on an image carrier while sequentially transferring them from the image carrier to an intermediate transfer body one above the other; the dislocation of the individual toner images on the intermediate transfer body critically deteriorates the quality of the final image transferred to a recording medium.